Rutgers University to allow co-ed dorm rooms

Ed Murray/The Star-LedgerStudents at the Rutgers University Davidson Residence Halls in Piscataway where Tyler Clementi lived when he was taped in the video voyeur case.

NEW BRUNSWICK — Starting this fall, Rutgers University will allow male and female students to live in the same dormitory room for the first time in a pilot program designed to make the New Brunswick campus more welcoming to gay students.

More than 100 undergraduates in Demarest Hall, New Gibbons and Rockoff Hall will have the option of selecting a roommate of the opposite sex, campus officials said. The pilot program will allow gay, lesbian and transgender students to choose either male or female roommates. Heterosexual students will also be permitted to live in co-ed rooms with their boyfriends, girlfriends or platonic friends of the opposite sex.

The new option — called gender-neutral housing — was created at the request of gay, lesbian and transgender students who objected to Rutgers rules that require undergraduates to choose roommates of the same sex.

"I’m really glad they did it, although I wish it wouldn’t have taken as long," said Aaron Lee, a Rutgers senior who is a self-described transgender student. "We live in a world where in order to be considered a human being you have to be male or female, and not everyone fits into that kind of binary. It’s important to have spaces where people don’t necessarily have to worry."

Rutgers-Newark will offer a similar program this fall, though campus officials said they will limit the mixed-sex housing to a maximum of three rooms in either University Square or Woodward Hall.

Gay campus groups had been asking for gender-neutral housing options for years without success. University officials reconsidered the idea after the death of Tyler Clementi, a freshman who made national headlines when he committed suicide last semester.

Clementi, 18, jumped off the George Washington Bridge a few days after his roommate allegedly used a webcam to watch him in an intimate encounter with another man. It is unclear exactly why Clementi committed suicide, but the freshman’s death prompted Rutgers officials to take a closer look at how gay students are treated on campus.

The number of colleges offering mixed-sex housing options has been growing steadily in recent years, according to the National Student Genderblind Campaign, a grassroots group that advocates for changes in campus housing policies. Columbia University, George Washington University, Emory University, Ohio University and Ramapo College in Mahwah already offer gender-neutral options.

At Rutgers, the pilot program will be limited to Demarest Hall on the College Avenue Campus, New Gibbons on the Douglass Campus and some apartments in Rockoff Hall, a 12-story building in downtown New Brunswick.

Students will get into the dorms through the student housing lottery, campus officials said. Then, students will be given the option of naming a roommate of either sex. Parents will not be permitted to veto their children’s roommates. Undergraduates will not be asked to reveal if they are gay.

Rutgers hosts community meeting to discuss Tyler Clementi tragedy, bullying problemHundreds attended a community meeting in October to discuss not only Tyler Clementi, but also the bullying problem affecting people all over the country. The former Rutgers freshman and accomplished violinist took his own life in September, just days after his roommate allegedly used a webcam to broadcast an intimate moment between Tyler and another man. (Video by Michael Monday/The Star-Ledger)

"We’re not asking students their relationships," said Joan Carbone, the university’s executive director of residence life. "People should not have to declare their sexual preference to us."

The halls will include gender-neutral bathrooms, where men and women share bathing facilities. Individual shower stalls will have doors instead of curtains to allow for more privacy, residence life officials said. Access to the locked bathrooms will be limited to residents with key cards.

The mixed-sex rooms will not be available to freshmen, Rutgers officials said. But first-year gay and lesbian students will be given the option on their housing form of requesting a roommate who is supportive of their sexual preference.

Steven Goldstein, head of Garden State Equality, said Rutgers’ decision to allow mixed-gender housing is a small part of the changes needed to help gay students be safe on campus.

"Our experience is that students get bullied both by students of the same gender and the opposite gender, so integrated housing may be a step. But it’s not nearly enough and cannot substitute for more comprehensive anti-bullying policy," said Goldstein, chairman of the statewide gay rights organization.